Sunday, June 12, 2011

Parched at home

The shutout the Padres suffered today was their 11th this season and eighth at home, extending their Petco Park record and moving them closer to the franchise mark of 13 home shutouts at The Murph in 2001.

Anthony Rizzo jazzed up the homestand with his power and his poise, and Jerry Coleman liked seeing the 1936 throwback uniforms Saturday, which recalled his days as a batboy for the San Francisco Seals. "It was an honor," the Colonel said, remembering Lefty O'Doul was the Seals' manager. He added: "It's good to see the players wearing stirrups again."

Joining in the spirit of '36, the Nationals wore the gray, blue and red duds worn by their ancestors the Senators, whose greatest pitcher Walter Johnson was inducted into the Hall of Fame that year.

Padres hitters, champions of artistic integrity, acted like they were facing The Big Train in the final three games of the series, scoring two runs in the 27 innings, one tally provided by the 21-year-old Rizzo's first career home run.

As the Strategic Thinkers watched them, the Padres dropped six of 11 on the homestand despite facing only losing teams. Those who thirst for trades by the Padres by the Aug. 1 Trade Deadline should be pleased by how the homestand played out.

"We could have done more here," third baseman Chase Headley said.

Headley, making a case for patience, cited the pitching staff's current hot streak and the team's improved defense. Check. He also referred to the National League West's vulnerabilities. Double check. (No offense to the first-place Giants, who've absorbed brutal injuries, or the second-place Diamondbacks, who scarcely resemble their 97-defeat selves of last year, but this is baseball's worst division as of today. All five NL West teams are below average in Baseball-Reference.com's Simple Rating System, which measures the number of runs a team is better -- or, as in the West, worse -- than the average team.)

Heath Bell lamented that he twice entered a tie game on the homestand and gave up a go-ahead run that stood as the winner.

"We could've pulled out of here 7-4 instead of 5-6 if I had done my job," Bell said.

Bell was implying that the Padres (29-38) would've scored a run at some point after he held serve. Considering that the Padres are batting .230 on the season and .208 at home, where they have a sub.-300 on-base average and only 99 runs scored in 40 games, it's easy to disagree with him.